Graeme Smith reckons Joe Root needs to handle pressure in the Ashes

Former South African captain Graeme Smith has said that England’s captain Joe Root needs to handle pressure well for England to do well in the Ashes. Smith has traveled to Australia thrice as the captain of South Africa so he knows a thing or two about managing pressure. He believes that it would be difficult for England to do well down under.

Loads of expectation on Joe Root

Graeme Smith led South Africa thrice in Australia, in 2005-06, 2008-09 and 2012. He lost the first series but South Africa registered historic series wins in other two. Former left handed batsman said Australians will be relentless. He warned that England captain Joe Root would be under a lot of pressure. Pressure would be applied on Root by media and the Australian crowds.

“Australia is relentless. From the moment you arrive and walk out of that airport you are scrutinized  – and abused – and there’s an immense amount of pressure. How Joe as a leader will cope with that will also be important.” Graeme Smith told BBC Test match special.

Graeme Smith impressed by the English team

Joe Root won his first series as the captain of England, as home team beat South Africa 3-1. Smith seemed impressed with how the English team is shaping up.

“England is shaping up to be a good team,” Smith said. “I like the fact they’ve gone with the extra (batter), I think that’s going to help them in Australia. You can debate who those eight batters are if you leave Moeen Ali at eight, but there are eight quality players there if England can find a top order that can consistently contribute.”

Few tips on how to handle pressure

Graeme Smith said that they tried their bits to deal with the Australian crowd. He said that they didn’t allow a single fielder to stay in deep for the whole day, this was done to avoid confrontation with the crowd.

“We actually created some humour at the end of the day in the change room, because what you hear through six hours in the field in Australia… We used to sit in the change room and have 20 mins of guys sharing some of the stuff they’d heard throughout the day, which always proved to create one or two laughs.” Smith added.